A 47-year-old Dundalk businessman who drove after and twice knocked down a burglar, has gone on trial in Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court.
Martin McCaughey from Mount Avenue in the town denies a charge of endangerment at Clann Chullainn Park on 27 June 2008 and a charge of assault causing harm to Daniel McCormack on the same occasion.
Mr McCormack admitted to the court that he broke into the home of Mr McCaughey on the morning of 27 June 2008.
He said he was drunk at the time. He found himself in an upstairs ensuite bathroom and took jewellery he saw there.
Mr McCormack then heard a voice and ran downstairs, out a back door and across a field.
He ran to Clann Chullainn Park where he lived, which was very close by.
The witness said he remembered being hit a car, getting up and being hit again.
Mr McCormack said he heard the defendant saying he would kill him if he got up again.
Both his legs were broken in the incident and he spent two-and-a-half weeks in hospital as a result.
Under cross-examination by Brendan Grehan SC for the defendant, the witness accepted he may have tried to rob another house in the area minutes before he went into the home of the accused.
He accepted also that he had committed burglaries in the past, but that he had been treated leniently by the courts.
Mr McCormack said he could not recall if he went into the bedrooms of the three children in Mr McCaughey house.
He accepted that he would have had to go into the bedroom of Mr and Mrs McCaughey to get into the bathroom where the jewellery was.
As he ran from the house, he said he could hear someone shouting but he did not stop.
The jury heard that Mr McCaughey was in his bare feet and only wearing boxer shorts when he drove after the witness.
Mr Grehan put it to Mr McCormack that his client was trying to stop him and box him in his car when he was hit.
He did not stop the first time but the second time he was hit he sustained injuries to his legs.
The witness confirmed that he successfully sued the defendant and received €175,000 in damages.
The trial before a jury of six men and six women continues tomorrow.
